The Black Hole

Greetings all from the lovely town of Winchester, Va. As you may have noticed this is not the location I mentioned in my last post. Yes, it all got chanced again. So I am here and the class is cool so far. However, my computer still has an issue with the screen and so I can't use my own computer. I am writing this on the public computer in the lobby of the hotel. This post is just to let you know where I am and while it might seem like it I have not been sucked into a black hole. I will put out a more in depth post next Sunday when I get to my folks place. Have a great week and be good, or at least good at it.

From The Birth Place Of America

Greetings and salutations once again, and thank you for joining me for another rousing edition of my journey. If you will all open your hymnals, we will begin with the ever popular "The Only Constant Is Change". Yes, the military has done it again. As I mentioned in my last post I was to finish my training in DC and go to Winchester, Va for a combat driving course. Well as you might expect the plan has changed. The powers that be have determined that the class in Winchester is no longer the one I need and instead I have to go to Melbourne, Fl. The biggest problem is that no one in Pakistan really seems to get that I am on PCS (Permanent Change of Station) orders and I can't just go rolling where ever I want. When the folks in Pakistan made the change they didn't bother to tell the folks at the Bureau of Personnel to get my orders modified. So ever since the Monday after Thanksgiving I have been trying to get that ORDMOD and as of the time of this writing (Monday Morning) I still haven't gotten it. It's all aout who pays for it. My detailer who writes my orders is working hard on it but these things take time which is why I was so annoyed that they made this change with two weeks lead time. Even better than all that I am supposed to have my flak jacket and helmet for this class which they were supposed to issue me when I was in Tampa. However, they screwed up and didn't give it to me thinking I would get it when I get in country. They have worked out that I can borrow the gear from the guys giving the training, but it was a big mess. So as it stands, I have orders to a class they don't want me to go to and I have a quota at a course that I do not have orders to attend and do not have all the right gear for. Lots of fun, eh?

OK, OK, OK. Take deep breaths. In with the good, out with the bad. I'm feeling much better now.

Let's change gears to a happier topic shall we? I have been to Washington DC three times in my life. All of them have been this year; the first for July 4th and the two times during these orders. During the July trip, my friend Crystal S. and I went on a sight seeing trip to the National Mall that tested our friendship and destroyed one of her shoes. We started by taking the metro to Arlington National Cemetery were we walked around and I got to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We then proceeded to walk to the Lincoln Memorial, the reflecting pool, the World War II Memorial, the Washington Monument, to the Capital Building and finally to Union Station before taking the metro back to my buddy ET's place where we were staying. The next day we hit the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. One might think we did a pretty good job in just a couple days of seeing the sights. But for those who do not know this barely scratches the surface of the monuments, memorials and museums that this town holds.

In an effort to further my adventures I took a trip to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. They had several neat exhibits: one about the presidency, Americans at war, a 200 year old house discussing the different people who lived there, the Gettysburg Address and a few others. But the best has to be the original Star Spangled Banner. The following are presented for your enjoyment.

A Roman George Washington.

C-3PO Human/Cyborg relations. Unfortunately his counterpart R2-D2 was not there.

Dorothy's Ruby Slippers

Kermit the frog here (insert goofy voice here).

The original Star Spangled Banner.

I also took a walk around the area through Freedom Square which is laid out with the street plans that Pierre L'Efant made for the city. There is a really neat view down Pennsylvania Ave to the capital.

As many cool things there are to see in DC, there even more in this region. ET and I took a trip this weekend to see the Navy/Army Game in Philadelphia, Pa. Aside from it being very cold it was a great game; particularly since Navy shut out Army 34-0. The game is definitely one, if not the, best rivalries in college athletics. As you all know I think OU/tEXAS is probably the best rivalry when it comes to basic dislike for the other team/school/fans/state, and there are many others like OSU/Michigan, USC/Cal; but Army/Navy truly lives up to the name "America's Game". The history, pageantry, pomp and festivities are spectacular. There aren't a whole lot of games that the President of the United States goes to every year but he comes to this one.

Lincoln Financial Stadium. The Corps of Cadets are on the left and the Brigade of Midshipmen are on the right.

ET and I tailgating at the game. I told you it was cold.

Before we came back to DC, we did some sight seeing in Philly, visiting the Liberty Bell and Liberty Hall. It's absolutely amazing the amount of history there is in such a small area.

Philadelphia city hall at night.

Liberty Hall. Sight of the Continental Congresses, and the writing of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

Liberty Hall closer up.

The Liberty Bell.

Well that is all for the moment. Hopefully I will be getting my orders squared away by tomorrow, one way or the other. I hope all of you are enjoying yourselves and are getting over the Thanksgiving glut. As always I look forward to any comments you might want to leave on the blog or send to me via e-mail. Keep in touch and if you can't be good, be good at it.

Happy Turkey Day

My public has spoken I have listened. Having been properly chastised about not putting up a post in a couple weeks I shall endeavor to correct this problem. As I write this I am slowly coming out from the tryptophan and Grandma's Chex mix induced comma. It was great to get to go home for Thanksgiving this year. It is always nice to see the family, but considering the adventure ahead this was really nice. I have a charmed career in that I have yet to miss Thanksgiving or Christmas at home (a streak which will be broken next year).

When we last left our hero he was just finishing up the initial C-12 training in picturesque Dothan, Al. Now to fully understand my next steps you must understand that the plane I was flying was kind of old and pretty much bare bones. It had the requisite parts: two engines and two wings and all that, but the gauges were the classic gauges you will find in pretty much any plane. It also had all the normal navigation aides (NAVAID) that are found in airplanes these days. The way pilots navigate when flying in the clouds and/or at high altitude when you can't see the ground is by radio signals from ground based stations. The NAVAID sends a signal and the box in the plane decodes it to tell us where we are in relation to that station. Since we know via charts where the stations are we can fly from place to place. This is all basic aviation that pilots learn in flight school.

So while the planes I was flying in Dothan were pretty basic, the ones I will fly in Pakistan have been updated with new toys. Specifically, the powers that be have installed a Flight Management System (FMS) and Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) in the Pakistani birds. FMS is a NAVAID management system that can take inputs from all the available NAVAIDs as well as from GPS to help navigate. It has a gigantic database that you can create a flight plan from and, in conjunction with the autopilot that the plane has, can pretty much fly from just after take off to just before landing (if they purchased a better autopilot it could fly the whole thing). The EFIS takes a lot of the gauges illustrated above and replaces them with a little TV screen. The big difference is that airspeed and altitude are displayed differently in this system than in the other gauges and it takes some time to get used to where to look to get the information you are looking for. Also, you can manipulate the display to bring up different things like weather radar. As you might expect they kind of want those of us who are going to use these systems to know how they work.

To that end I rolled out to Tucson, Az to take a three day class on the FMS system. Tucson was nice in that the weather was in the 70's all three days (summer may be hotter the hell, but winter isn't too bad). I took a bit of a driving tour of the city the weekend I got there. I saw the mountain with the "A" on it, the Persidio and the University of Arizona. But my favorite thing in Tucson was the casino. I had some good luck until the last day where I managed to give back all the money that they had given me over the first couple days, but since I was playing with their money I figured it was ok. The only problem I had was I had difficulty finding restaurants. As you all know I am big on eating. There just wasn't a whole bunch around the airport which is where I was staying.

Having been educated on the capabilities of the FMS, I flew back to Washington DC to receive training on the EFIS system. It was as I was getting ready for one of my flights here that we all figured out that I had not received the required physiology training and should not have been doing any of the flying I had done over the last month. This was rather annoying since I asked the question back in Dothan and they told me I was good to go.

You see the military requires all pilots to receive physiology training so we understand the factors that are affecting us as we fly. Those that fly above 10,000 feet have to do extra training in a pressure chamber because of the effects of low oxygen levels at such high altitudes which can cause hypoxia among other things. As a helicopter pilot this has never been an issue because we are not allowed to fly that high, but the C-12 regularly flies around 25,000 feet and can go as high as 31,000 feet. So my flight on Tuesday got canceled and we had to get on the phone and go shopping for someone who could fit me into a physiology class ASAP. Fortunately, there was a class the next day that they could fit me in so I am now back in an up status and ready to get back into the aircraft.

Well that pretty much brings everyone up to date. As it is I am sitting in the living room of my friend ET in Washington DC watching football (Boomer Sooner). I hope everyone has had a great Thanksgiving with the people they love. If you are one of my friends who are out at the pointy end of the spear defending our nation remember you are not forgotten and the ones that you you are thinking of you. Until next time, be good or be good at it.

Peanuts...Get your Peanuts Here

Welcome to another installment of my rousing exploits. I took the weekend doing some exploring of the fine city of Dothan. Dothan calls itself the Circle City because it is encased by state highways in a circular fashion. It also bills itself as the Mural City. This is one of the things I went out to search for. It is pretty neat how several of the buildings downtown have murals painted on their sides. I present the following for your consideration.

These four are actually one mural depicting the history of industry in Dothan (I think).

The Steamboat Era 1824-1925

(Who knew steamboats were around that long?)

The Peanut Festival

A tribute to Fort Rucker.

And to the strength of the Southern Woman.

One of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Not sure what this one is about.

Another thing I was on the hunt for was the elusive fiberglass peanut. It is something that a lot of cities are doing as a civic bonding item as well as a fund raising event often for charities. The city picks an icon that is intended to represent its image and then they are scattered about the city often painted or otherwise decorated by those that pay for the privilege. Athens, Ga has bulldogs, Pensacola, Fl has pelicans and Dothan has Peanuts. According to the city's website there are 40 of them out there, but I could only find the following ones. If I find any more I will send them along.

This weekend was also the closing weekend of the National Peanut Festival. A little slice of Americana that you just can't get in a big city. Basically it is the county fair with some inputs from the surrounding area. I missed most of the events, not being a big fan of livestock judging and having to spend time actually doing the training I am here for. But I did make it out to the parade on Saturday morning. It was exactly what I expected having marched in several parades in my life; one of the advantages (or curses depending on how you look at it) of being in the marching band throughout my life. I really liked doing parades, but of course the best part of being in the band is the free tickets to the football game (by the way, Sooner's laying the smack down).

After the parade I rolled out to the Festival itself. I wasn't a bad little fair. It would have been cooler if I was 15 and not 35. There were several rides, some of which actually looked kind of cool, plus all the games of the midway. I was rather disappointed with the food though. They had the basics like corn dogs, pizza and turkey legs, and lord knows they had loads of peanuts (roasted, boiled, buttered, brittle, you name it), but there was a severe lacking of quality fried foods. Things like deep fried Snickers, deep fried Twinkies, or something I was hoping they would have, deep fried bacon. You laugh, but it is out there and I want to try it. I don't care if I get a heart attack half way through, it sounds great. I've actually mentioned to some of you my gastronomical theory; there is no food that can not be made better by adding either chocolate or bacon. If you add the quality of frying it you can only make it that much better.

But the marquee attraction for the day was the demolition derby. If you are looking for Americana there is nothing like it. Let's face it, watching cars crash is what we like to see. Why else would NASCAR be the most popular sport in the US? We are hoping that during the 600 miles of guys turning left that one or two of them will wrap themselves around something. If we could afford to do it I think there would be a lot more accidents on the highway. The only thing keeping us from turning rush hour into Death Race 2000 is the obvious physical repercussions and those pesky laws against vehicular manslaughter. So when we get a chance to let loose in a "controlled" environment you can't help but love it. I'm still working on downloading my camera which is why there is no audio, but it was a fun heat. I really wish the audio was there though because there was a 6 year old boy and 4 year old girl sitting near me and they were screaming their heads off with excitement. I tell you we are born with it.

So as I approach the end of my time here I leave with the knowledge that Dothan does have its small charms. This is not to even remotely to imply that I want to move here permanently, but it does show that there are neat things to be found in any place; you just have to go find it. A concept I hope to apply throughout my journeys. And with that I bid you adieu. As always I look forward to any comments or e-mails you might have about this or anyother topic. Stay safe and be good. If you can't be good, be good at it.

Friday Night In The Big Town

Greetings all and welcome to another instalment of my wonderful travels. First a couple notes from past posts. I mentioned that I have been having some technical problems with my computer. Basically the screen in my laptop has taken a header and it looks like it will be down for the count. What I hadn't mentioned is that on the drive down from DC the fan in my car decided it didn't want to play, so I had no AC for the trip and shortly after getting here my iPod froze up severely. Fortunately, I am able to plug my laptop into the TV here to act as a screen and the car and iPod have fixed themselves, but now my e-mail account is currently off line. Hopefully, with the help of my folks this will be fixed soon; but right now I can't send or receive anything. I think a gremlin is after me.

I would also like to mention that as far as I know the bird that tried to occupy the same space as my windshield at the same time is still alive (though he probably had one heck of a headache and he is wanted by the Stephen Hawkings for trying to break one of the laws of physics).

So I promised myself I would not write anything really bad about Alabama for the first week and give it a chance to grow on me. Well it has been two weeks so here we go. I know Gary L. is probably going to call me dirty names since he is currently in Afghanistan (hi Gary, I hope things are well) and no matter how bad Alabama is it is not as bad as Afghanistan. But it's my blog and I'll do as I please. Also, as the saying goes, "A bitching sailor is a happy sailor".

Let's start with a small geography lesson. Dothan is about 2 hours south-southeast of Montgomery, Al, 1 1/2 hours north of Panama City, Fl, 3 1/2 hours southwest of Macon, Ga and 2 3/4 hours northeast of Pensacola, Fl. So this means that Dothan is, as far as America goes, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Now Ft Rucker is not actually in Dothan. It is located in Dalevile which is a small town 18 miles northwest of Dothan. So when I got here and checked into my room on Ft Rucker I was actually in a suburb of the middle of nowhere. Fortunately I have been able to move to to the Residents Inn in Dothan. It may not be much but it is the Big Town in the area.

This is not to say there isn't anything in this area. There just isn't much. Ft Rucker is the home of Army Aviation (like Pensacola if the cradle of Naval Aviation) and houses the Army Museum of Aviation. I have yet to make it there, but plan on doing it this weekend so you can look forward to that report soon.

Also, Dothan is the home of the National Peanut Festival (bet you didn't know we, as a nation, had a Peanut Festival). Not only do they have a festival, but they also have a pageant (I would like to congratulate Ms. Shannon Alicia Hatcher of Jackson County, this year's winner). Honestly the only issue I have with this is they preempted the last 10 minutes of the OU/Kansas game to broadcast the pageant; not a good way to endear yourself to me. Anyway you can expect reports on the parade and demolition derby in the future as well.

As for the reason I am here, the C-12 training continues along well. The program is designed for someone who is already qualified in a multi-engine fixed wing aircraft and since it has been 11 years since I last flew a fixed wing aircraft and it only had one engine, it has been interesting. Kind of like taking a drink from a fire hose. But I had my fifth simulator today, with a couple more next week and I should be flying in the actual plane on Wednesday. I will have the obligatory picture of me with the plane later.

Well that is all for the moment. I hope everything is good for all of you. As always I look forward to your comments and if you can't be good, or be good at it.

This Land Is Your Land; This Land Is My Land

Well better late then never right? I have arrived in Alabama and have started the C-12 training I have talked about in previous posts. The post below was written on 14 Oct, but due to Internet connectivity issues and computer problems I was unable to post it. So here it is in its entirety. I will make another post soon with more great and wonderful stories (or something like that).

Happy Columbus Day to one and all. Over the last week and a half or so I have traversed this great nation from west to east, north to south, back again twice. And as I sit in my room in lovely Fort Rucker, Al I am reminded of the great orator who said "From the rock bound coast of Maine to the smoggy shores of California; that is a long walk". That great orator was none other than Bugs Bunny, and while it looses something in text, he has a point. I have to admit I have a new respect for truckers. After spending three days driving from San Diego to Washington DC and then another full day just yesterday from DC to Ft Rucker, I am not sure I would want to do that for a living. But anyway, here are a couple stories from on my travels.

First, I've come to the conclusion that as you get further east and south the worse the drivers are. Perhaps it is the open terrain and reduced population in the west (I'm speaking of the open highway, not the city), but they seam to get it out there. Now what I am primarily speaking of is that slower traffic is supposed to stay to the right. The left lane is supposed to be used for passing and that's it, and as I drove through California, Arizona and New Mexico that's what I saw. But as I hit the center of the country there where more and more people just rolling in the left lane, until as I went through South Carolina I pretty much had to pass on the right. Anyway it's just frustrating.

So it's the morning of my second day and I have just gotten on the highway out of Roswell, NM (no I did not see any UFO's although that would be a great story). Now I want to set this story up with a bit of history. I have told this story to some of you before but for those who have not heard it, one time I was driving to school in college when I had a bird commit suicide on me. I was driving along, minding my own business when I happened to look at a bird sitting on a telephone wire. I guess at it was at that time that he decided he just couldn't take it any more, jumped off the wire and swooped directly into the path of my car. His path couldn't have been better (or worse depending on how you look at it) for his head became lodged between my front grill and the hood. So the bird succeeded in ending it's misery with a bit of help from my car. Now this story is kind of sad (the bird did die after all) but it was kind of funny in a shocking "I can't believe that just happened" kind of way.

So what do you think are the chances of having another bird strike with my car? Well what ever they are you would have won if you had made the bet. I'm just getting up to speed on the highway and there is a group of birds (not sure of the species but they were moderately big like crows) of to the side of the road. I guess my car passing spooked them for they all took to the air to avoid this strange beast racing past. Now this is a natural escape mechanism for a bird and normally works as long as he turns away from the incoming predator. This one, however, apparently wasn't the smartest bird in the flock and turned directly into me. He smacked into my windshield leaving an imprint mot unlike the one here (this one was taken from icanhascheezburger.com which if you have not checked out you absolutely must). Unfortunately, my camera was packed and I couldn't get to it to take a picture of my windshield. Anyway I spent the next several hours with "I can't believe that just happened again" feeling.

The other wondrous thing I observed I also unfortunately failed to capture on film. This was the great tumbleweed migration of 2008. I have just passed into Texas and I'm on a two lane US highway and I notice in the distance a redish orange color moving across the road. As I get closer I notice it is a bunch (and I mean hundreds) of 5-6 inch wide tumbleweeds being blown across the road. It felt like a National Geographic moment where the baby turtles are trekking down to the beach. I found it interesting at least.

Well that is all for the moment. As always please feel free to drop me an e-mail or leave a comment on this post. I really enjoy your feed back. I again apologize for failing to take pictures and video as appropriate. I will endeavor to do better next time. But until that time comes remember if you can't be good, be good at it.

The Pictures

Hey folks. Sorry about the slow output. But as promised here are some of the pictures from my time in Ohio. I will have another post soon. Let me know what you think of the pictures. So until we meet again, if you can't be good, be good at it.

Really? I mean, really? A bit ostentatious if you ask me.

Didn't Icarus crash and die? Not sure this is what you want in the entryway of an aviation museum?

Wright Brothers 1911 Flyer - The first military owned aircraft.

Sopwith Camel (Snoopy's Plane)

Flight school hasn't changed much over the years.

The "Boxcar"; the B-29 bomber that dropped the "Fat Boy" bomb on Nagaski.

F-22 Raptor

B-52 (big hangar eh?)

F-117 Nighthawk

SR-71 Blackhawk (I told you it was dark in the museum).

More of the Blackhawk.